Cup of Coffee: May 31, 2024

Good morning!

You hate to see it. Except you love to see it.

I don’t have much to say about this because, really, what else is there to say? Anyone with a brain knew he was a criminal all along, so seeing it legally ratified, however satisfying, doesn’t really change anything. His cult is his cult and they’re not going anywhere. Everyone who loathed the guy yesterday still loathes him today.

But I have a theory about Trump support: he’ll never be broadly and conspicuously rejected, but every time he looks bad a small but non-trivial number of people decide this ridiculousness has finally gone too far for their tastes and they decide to just stay home or issue a protest vote next time. People who think that voting for an asshole who will lower their taxes and not guilt trip them for think the worst about non-white people is OK. Voting for a criminal asshole, maybe not if, for no other reason, than it’s embarrassing. Maybe that’s just wishcasting. And even if it’s not, it’s an open question as to whether the defection of such fringier supporters is outnumbered by the recruitment of new cult members. But I do think those kinds of shifts happen. And, at any rate, anyone out there saying, somehow, that this is good for Trump is deluded or has experienced too much post-2016 trauma to be reliable about it all.

Anyway: I had a Trump item about something else entirely already written up in Other Stuff, so we’ll just go with that today. If it helps, just mentally add “convicted felon” every few times I mention his name and you’ll be fine.

Now, let’s get on with the day’s news.

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